Okay I understand that the stock market dive equates to 'paper loss' for us - we don't need to remortgage the house, we're not retiring soon. But even so it's still disconcerting to see so much value go down the toilet. I know we need a big financial adjustment, and this is it, but even so...

What I don't agree with is why I, a law-abiding taxpayer, with very little debt other than the house, am being punished for the idiocy of corporate greed and people with bad credit. Why should I pay higher taxes to bailout the losers who have defaulted on their mortgages? Our neighbour works with a 21-year-old who has a $500,000 mortgage on a 6000 sq. foot house, and a $40,000 brand new truck, with a motorbike, a jetski and a powerboat. The only one he owns the title for is the truck, because he took out a home equity loan to pay for it. So he owes $540,000 on his house, and by his own admission, hasn't made a payment in over a year.

Why am I having to pay for this person?

Shouldn't the banks be taking his toys off him and selling them to recover some of the money? Shouldn't his mortgage company be repossessing his house to recover their losses? Why does he get to Lord it with all his toys and massive debt, at my expense.

If ever there was a time for the NRA to march on Washington and kill every member of the house, senate and government, this is it.

Who knew. Bush's method of ruling is actually best described as 'demagogy' or 'demagoguery', even though 'terrorism' is definitely part of it.

From Acme Online Word Lookup (inc):demagogism, demagoguism, demagogyThe art and practice of gaining power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people.

A demagogue is "one who will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."

As George Bernard Shaw said: "But though there is no difference in this respect between the best demagogue and the worst, both of them having to present their cases equally in terms of melodrama, there is all the difference in the world between the statesman who is humbugging the people into allowing him to do the will of God, in whatever disguise it may come to him, and one who is humbugging them into furthering his personal ambition and the commercial interests of the plutocrats who own the newspapers and support him on reciprocal terms."[2]

Though this definition emphasizes the use of lying and falsehoods, skilled demagogues often need to use only special emphasis by which an uncritical listener will be led to draw the desired conclusion themselves. Moreover, a demagogue may well believe his or her own arguments (for example, there are good reasons to assume that Adolf Hitler - certainly one of the most successful demagogues in history - sincerely believed his own anti-Jewish diatribes.)

Hmm.That also fits for a sociopath. So Bush is a sociopathic demagogue.

It seems Microsoft's multi-million dollar campaign to teach us that Vista doesn't suck hasn't gone so well. In fact it's gone so badly that they've now extended the end-of-life for XP almost far enough that people can skip the godforsaken Vista and move on to Windows 7. I wonder what'll happen if/when Windows 7 doesn't work?

I got back from my little weekend away in Idaho on my motorbike a couple of hours ago. 868 miles in three days, dodging thunderstorms and rain clouds all the way around. I was well pleased - didn't get properly wet at all. I did have one thunderstorm encounter but I'd already suited up with full waterproofs by the time I got to it. Rain so thick I couldn't see the road, hail stones, lightning and thunder. Hail stones really hurt when you're rushing through them on a motorbike at 80mph.The trip was a success - I spent most of the time plugged in to my iPod shuffle. I took the new Legacy Highway out of Salt Lake City, up to Logan, then on to Preston in Idaho for lunch. (Home of Napoleon Dynamite). There's some backwards people in that town, that's for sure.Quick pit stop in Pocatello for petrol then on to Twin Falls for the overnight stay. On saturday I went up to Boise to get the bike serviced at Big Twin motorcycles, then rode back to Twin Falls for another overnight stay. Today I came back home by going south out of Twin Falls to Wells, Nevada, then out to Wendover, and finally east across the Bonneville salt flats back to SLC.

It was a nice trip. The tailpack on the bike gave me something to lean back against on the long hauls, and the music from my iPod kept me entertained. I shall do the same thing next year I think....